Friday, April 07, 2006

For the Americans, many of whom could care less about football soccer, FIFA is the sport's world governing body. They are the people who put on the World Championship every four years. (You now have nearly all of my total knowledge about soccer - fifteen years after moving here, I still refer to 'American football' as Football).

FIFA claims that 'football' is 'the only universal tool' that can bridge gaps between Israelis and 'Palestinians.' If you follow the links that I h ave inserted into this article, you will see that not only is not the only tool (there may not be any such tools), it is not even a tool.

World soccer's governing body (FIFA) has raised concerns with the Israeli government after the IDF targeted the [empty CiJ] main soccer stadium in the Gaza Strip with artillery fire.

FIFA said Friday it is considering possible action over the air strike.

The shells, which reportedly left a large crater in the center of the field, were fired early last Friday morning in response to Kassam rocket attacks.

Those attacks included one rocket that landed on a soccer field at Kibbutz Karmiya, south of Ashkelon, the day before.

The IDF has acknowledged that the stadium was specifically targeted to "send a strong message to the Palestinian people against terrorism."

"Knowing the stadium was unpopulated, artillery fire from Israel was fired directly at it," said the IDF Spokesman. "The terrorism is coming from within them, and they need to know that they are the ones suffering."

The fire took place at a time when the Palestinian national soccer team is taking part in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup in Bangladesh.

Jerome Champagne, a representative of FIFA's president for special affairs, this week sent an official letter to Israeli Ambassador to Switzerland Aviv Shiron, asking him to explain why the stadium was targeted before FIFA decided what action, if any, to take.

Champagne told The Jerusalem Post that the organization was "not happy with what happened."

"Hitting a football stadium is absolutely counterproductive for peace, because today football is the only universal tool that can bridge gaps," he said. [Let's forget for a minute whether 'football' is the 'only' tool that can bridge gaps and let's consider whether it's a tool. In November 2005, the 'Peres Peace Center' organized a combined Israeli and 'Palestinian' team that played an exhibition match in Barcelona. This was the 'Palestinian' reaction.]

Champagne added that the field was not being used by Palestinians as a missile launching pad, as Shiron had originally claimed.

Now we're going to see how FIFA really feels about Israel:

Citing the 2004 FIFA decision to allow Israel to host its national team games on home soil after being forced to play abroad for two years due to terrorism fears[If anyone finds another country that was forced by FIFA to play its home games abroad 'due to terrorism fears,' please let me know. Not England. Not Ireland. Not Spain. Not any other country that has had terror attacks. Only Israel. CiJ] , Champagne said, "We did everything possible to make sure the Israeli team has the right to play. At the same time, we have to observe the situation [in which] Palestinian football cannot be developed itself because of Israeli checkpoints."

When asked about the threat of Kassams, Champagne, a French national, said, "The Gaza Strip was occupied since 1967. [France was] occupied by Germany three times in the last 100 years. Do you think we could just kiss and make up after six months?" [How many rockets did France shoot at German civilians after the war was over? CiJ]

"No part of Israel is occupied by the Palestinian people. It is not right to occupy a people," he added.

...

Shiron said he also raised with FIFA the issue of the Kassam that hit the soccer field in Karmiya, but that FIFA had not yet responded.

Uri Selah, secretary of Kibbutz Karmiya, said one resident sustained light wounds in the attack, although it could have been much worse. "It is a small field, but if the rockets had been fired a day later it would have been full of people playing soccer and the situation could have been much more serious," he said.

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About Me

I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 12 to 33 years and eight grandchildren. Three of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com